Bionx repair dilemma

[adam t]

Hi all, new here and to ebikes however a cycling fanatic for many years now. A friend has asked me to have a look at a secondhand bike he recently got. I have a workshop, have built many bikes over the years and have a basic understanding of electronics so he hoped i could help.

He has a Villiger Bionx with a 250w hub motor and a ?g2 display with rear rack battery. I have learnt that Villiger was bought out a couple of years back and there is no support for Bionx fitted bikes given the Bionx bankruptcy situation.

The situation with the bike is the battery seems to hold charge, I don't have a test meter to put across it but both head lamp and rear lamps work. The display is dead, nothing at all. I can't tell if the motor works as i presume that is dependent on the display to power up and control the system. I have checked and cleaned up all the conections which seem good. I opened the battery pack and there was nothing obvious wrong with the ciruitry or fuse. Unfortunatly I don't have any test equipment here to investigate signal going to (or not) the display. When the battery is charged the rear light stays on and there is no switch to turn it off, unlike the front which can be switched on or off. The rear stays on until the battery runs down so I have disconnected it for now.

Really I'm just looking for some tips or anything obvious that might get things working. I'm fully prepared that we might be better off giving up on it given the proprietry nature of the system and lack of available spares. I don't really have the time or inclination to get very involved in it but hoping there could be something obvious.

I've already had a look throught the Bionx subforum on this site but no answers there.

Any help is welcome

p.s I hope this is posted in the right place, please let me know if not

 

[harryS]

Few Bionx experts here. Try the endless sphere forum.

It's locked down system. There's a data bus between the battery, controller and motor. They all talk to each other and send commands like .."Gimme the password? You don't have one. Get outa here!".

Could be the battery voltage is too low to allow the system to start. For a 36V system, 30-42 volts is the usual operating range. For a 48 V system, that shifts to 42-54 volts.

 

[Deacon Blues]

You could send Grin an email asking for some advice. They put out a video on how to upgrade a Bionx controller, so they might be able to give you some advice.

Grin: https://www.ebikes.ca/

 

[adam t]

Few Bionx experts here. Try the endless sphere forum.

It's locked down system. There's a data bus between the battery, controller and motor. They all talk to each other and send commands like .."Gimme the password? You don't have one. Get outa here!".

Could be the battery voltage is too low to allow the system to start. For a 36V system, 30-42 volts is the usual operating range. For a 48 V system, that shifts to 42-54 volts.

Thanks Harry, actually I left the battery on charge for a few hours today. The indicator light went from red to orange to red flashing at which point I unplugged it. I presume that indicates a problem with it. I'll see if my neighbour (ex sparky) has a test meter and check it out.

 

[adam t]

You could send Grin an email asking for some advice. They put out a video on how to upgrade a Bionx controller, so they might be able to give you some advice.

Grin: https://www.ebikes.ca/

Thanks, I actually watched this video on this forum last night. It's inspiring. I have a city and guilds in electronic servicing, however I trained in the 90s and haven't really worked on anything at component level for years so wouldn't want to take this on as a favour for a friend. However if he shelves the bike and it comes my way then maybe.